Arbor Day
Julius Sterling Morton of Nebraska founded the tree planting holiday of Arbor Day in the United States. The first celebration was held on April 10, 1872. The county with the most trees planted on this day was to win an award. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, it was estimated that in 1872 more than one million trees were planted on Arbor Day in Nebraska.[1] In 1885 Arbor Day was voted as an official holiday in Nebraska, with many states including California to follow this legislation. Discussions of Arbor Day celebrations in California began around 1885, with the proposed date of celebration for November 27.
The first Arbor Day celebration in San Diego, California was not celebrated as widely as anticipated. According to a publication in The San Diego Union on Sunday Morning November 28, 1886, “Arbor Day was not very extensively celebrated in San Diego. People are too busy buying and selling land to plant much on it.”[5] Advocates for using nature to beautify the city continued to promote Arbor Day celebrations. The date of celebration was proposed to change from November 27, to February 22, the birthday of George Washington, viewed as a patriotic day. The date of Arbor Day celebrations in California varied between the months of November, December, February, and April. Different counties had specific days set aside for this tree planting ceremony. In February of 1887, San Diegans were getting ready to celebrate a February 22 Arbor Day planting trees in City Park, later known as Balboa Park. A High School, Russ School, was built in part of Balboa Park. For Arbor Day, Students at Russ school were to be given tree seeds to plant in the park.
On February 18, 1887 an article in the San Diego Union reported preparations for the upcoming Arbor Day. According to the article, due to the “present expense and inconvenience of getting water at the Russ School, it would be unwise to carry out a plan for planting the school grounds with trees: but in order to make a beginning the committee will furnish the pupils with seeds of the pepper and blue gum trees for planting in the ravines in the park, some of which should grow without the artificial application of water.” Furthermore the article stated, “Several citizens have expressed their willingness to plant trees on the streets in front of their own premises, and the committee urges that all citizens who contemplate tree-planting should do so on Tuesday next, thus helping to inaugurate February 22 as Arbor Day in Southern California.” The publication also noted that Miss Kate Sessions, who is later renowned as the “Mother of Balboa Park,” suggested for tree-planters on California Arbor Day in 1887, “trees should be planted in the streets twenty-five feet apart, to allow room for growth if ten or fifteen years.”[4]
In 1903 and 1904, Kate Sessions and Mary Coulston planned two large tree planting events in Balboa Park. The first event was held on the fourth of July in 1903, and the results were massive with tree planting by various fraternal organizations across the state including Elks, the Ancient Order of Druids, and the Foresters and Woodsmen of the World. [2] The second event was held on Saint Patrick’s Day 1904, and this was the first large celebration of Arbor Day in Balboa Park. Sessions organized the planting of the trees, and put together the event that brought 3,500 school children to City Park, with representative schools and classes planting sixty pine and cypress trees.[2] Today, Arbor Day continues to be celebrated in Balboa Park during the month of April a few days after Earth Day activities.
In 2014, Julius Morton’s great-granddaughter Jean Palmer was a special guest for an Arbor Day tree planting of twelve drought tolerant native species in Zoro Garden at Balboa Park with students from Roosevelt Middle School.[3] Arbor Day celebrations in the park were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. This past year has kept people indoors with the social distancing guidelines, and people are more connected to digital devices with many work and school environments being transferred online. As people are looking to reconnect with nature in parks, the future of Arbor Day celebrations is a great way to interact with nature in Balboa Park.
Citations:
- Arbor Day Foundation, History of Arbor Day, Arbor Day Foundation, 2021, https://www.arborday.org/celebrate/history.cfm.
- Carter, Nancy Carol. “The Trees of Balboa Park.” The Journal of San Diego History. https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/v56-3/v56-3carter.pdf
- Friends of Balboa Park, Arbor Day in Balboa Park, Friends of Balboa Park, 2021 https://friendsofbalboapark.org/arbor-day/.
- San Diego Union, “Arbor Day,” San Diego Union, Friday Morning February 18, 1887.
- San Diego Union, “Civic and Vicinity: Arbor Day,” San Diego Union, Sunday Morning November 28, 1886.